The list of mobility solutions for Microsoft Lync and OCS is growing. To keep my head on straight I made this Excel spreadsheet to compare some of the available Lync mobile solutions:

Lync Mobile for iPhone, iPad, WindowsPhone and Android

Damaka Xavy

3rd Party Server Based Solutions Like AltiGen, Audiocodes and Shoretel

Note: Our attempt is to be accurate but this is provided on a best effort basis. Also, we are not trying to favor any vendor and if you see a vendor missed or misrepresented or see some other error, please comment below.

Please Click Here or click on the graphic below to see the entire comparison:

Is the Next Big Thing in Communications Unified Social Communications? The marriage of Unified Communication and Social Networking? With the “Facebook generation” bringing their habits to work this is likely inevitable, but Microsoft’s purchase of Yammer has put the spotlight on Social joining hands with collaboration and Unified Communication in the enterprise. It seems Microsoft may be building out what could be called “Unified Social Communication” offering by it’s purchase of Yammer making Microsoft’s USC platform consist of:

Communication/Collaboration

Microsoft Lync

Skype / Live Messenger

Collaboration/Social

Sharepoint

Yammer

Mobility

Lync for WindowsPhone, iPhone, iPad, Android, etc

CEBP/Integration

Client SDK’s/Lync UCMA Server Side SDK’s

Allows mashups of communication, collaboration, social and business process

The Microsoft’s Unified Communication solution has continued to evolved into a continuously more social experience. It has become more social in Lync 2010 with people Pictures, Status, and Activity Feeds (much like a Facebook timeline). This direction can be expected to continue and likely at a faster pace.

But Microsoft is not the only one building out Unified Social Communication. The king of social, Facebook, has been working on this for a while with:

Some vendors (like Polycom/Avtex below) have been creative in coming up with their own solutions as shown in the video below.

This is a far side camera control by Avtex for Lync

The above solution looks interesting, especially if you have control of the far side Lync client. If you don’t, (For example: if the far side is outside your company) what might a very simple solution look like?

So what could be a solution? Here Is a Quick Solution Concept

One possible solution (perhaps a little hacky) could be to have a small tray application on the near side (on pc with the ptz camera installed on it), Using Lync 2010 Client SDK, on new Video call send an introduction IM to the remote party, something like this:

The remote video camera you are in a session with can be controlled with with: 4=Pan Left; 6=Pan Right; 8=Pan Up; 2=Pan down; +/-=Zoom; or press a,b,c,d for preset.

Now when the far side user presses (say) 4, the tray app catches that and passes the command to the PTZ camera to pan left X degrees.

Now the far end users can (for example) press 4 [enter] in IM window to pan left.

Another Possible Solution

A more elegant would be to have a nice UI to control the far side camera. So in this scenario there could once again be a tray app, but this would also have a small web server that has nice GUI PTZ camera controls. Once again a intro IM would be sent, this time an URL like:

When this Lync conversation ends, the randomurl/token would expire. (Port forwarding on near side would be a simple/cheap way to get to the PTZ control webpage. If not possible, I think there are some API/WebServices to make the connection between the two internet devices.)

Welcome Your Feedback

These are just some quick ideas on how this could be accomplished on a budget. Do you have better idea? Let’s hear it.

This is one of those “smack on my forehead why didn’t I think of it before” tips that @tommyclark has been using in his emails for some time and @patrichard’s mention of it prompted me to right this little tip.

Want to make your Outlook signature phones and and Lync addresses clickable? Just prefix a phone number with TEL: and SIP URI/Lync Address with SIP: and it will become click to dial for phone numbers and click to IM for Lync Addresses!

If you are a fan of desk phones with a multitude of buttons or you subscribe to the three click philosophy* and you have to transfer quite a few calls to a handful of common contacts, you may take issue with the Microsoft Lync call transfer experience. (Please note that the Lync Attendant is extremely efficient and does indeed allow a call transfer in 2 clicks and is very efficient! We are aiming this article at those who cannot use Attendant because they need some Lync 2010 feature like desk sharing, video or meeting join) But what if you are a common Lync user that needs to commonly transfer calls, what is the experience for you?

Lync Phone Edition (“Aries”) Blind Transfer Steps:

The first step to transfer during a live call is to press Menu | Down Arrow (3times) | Select…

Now we are at 5 key presses and we are ready to select a Contact. From here we can either type what will be a 3/4 digit extension (and not know the users status before we transfer) or start type the first, say, 3 letters we now of their name. So lets say it’s a good day and we could type 2 letters and press Transfer. Done! (If you are a believer in the three click philosophy* you were counting and noted that was approximately 8 or more clicks)

snom, in one of there marketing videos for the snom UC Edition perhaps are the most eloquent in outlining the challenge, saying it this way: “Try this with a Lync Phone Edition…”

Microsoft Lync 2010 Blind Transfer Steps

On the Lync 2010 client you click on Call Transfer | Another Person or Number | and then you will see an alphabetical list of your contacts. (Or you can press CTRL+SHiFT+T to jump right to the next screen.)

Now we will be presented with the “Transfer Call” contact list. This list is your contacts presented in alphabetical order. In most cases you will need to start typing the name, when the match is found you can press enter to complete transfer. (5 clicks/keys)

Is There Any Ingenious Way To Streamline Transfer?

There are several solutions to help with this that involve buying a product:

Get button phone like snom 370 or snom 821 with Vision (see this video)

FoneComfort client side tray app removes a click or so for transfer (video demo)

Just today Microsoft announced a lot of new things coming in Windows Phone 8. One that definitely affects UC on the device is “Integrated Internet Calling” noted under developers,developer,developer” section of Joe Belfiore’s blog on Windows 8

Integrated Internet calling: In Windows Phone 8, developers can create VoIP apps that plug into our existing calling feature so Internet calls can be answered like traditional phone calls, using the same calling interface.

This will make it possible to have a very integrated “softphone” experience, as is noted by this slide from Endgadget. which outlines in more detail what “Integrated Internet Calling” is:

UPDATE: Lync Select Dial now works with Windows 8. The app uses F8 which does not conflict with Windows 8 hotkeys.

The premise of the Lync Select Dial app is simple: You should be able to dial from any application. Lync Select Dial is a very simple tray app will dial anything you can select. Just select and press F8 and that’s it!

I don’t have much to say about this tip: Just go out to TechNet Gallery and get the Lync Select Dial app. This nifty tool will dial any number or SIP URI you select. Just make a selection and press F8. That’ it!

Have you ever found yourself wishing for the “good ole’ days” when a button press on a desk phone could dial a specific contact? There are a couple aspects of “legacy” buttons that hard to improve on:

There is no need to determine context: pressing the button always dials the contact

They have a physical location, and things don’t (usually) get on top of them

One press does the job

There are a couple downsides to buttons like: there are never enough, it can be hard to find the desired contact in rows and rows of buttons…and more I’m sure, but today we will give the steps to bring back 1 Click (or 1 button press) shortcuts for dialing or IM'ing common contacts or phone numbers.

The overview of what we are going to do is: Create a simple Windows desktop shortcut that points to TEL: or SIP: url to start a conversation with a specific contact with one shortcut keypress.

First, right click anywhere on your desktop and then click New | Shortcut.

Type in SIP: or TEL: followed by the contact you want to initiate a conversation with.

SIP: Will start a conversation with a SIP URI

TEL: Will dial a telephone number

NOTE: Unfortunately to start a voice call with a SIP URI you will need to click “Call”.

Next you can give your shortcut a Name/Description. I suggest prefixing it with the Keyboard hotkey shortcut you are planning to use. (this will be configured in a later step)

Now you have a shortcut. Click on it will start a conversation with this contact. SIP: will start an IM and TEL: will start a voice call.

Now we can further enhance our shortcut by adding a Shortcut Key and unique Icon.

Now you have a shortcut that will start and IM or initiate a Voice call using the assigned Shortcut key any where in Windows. Of course you can drag this shortcut onto the taskbar so it is visible and any other tricks you can think of that Windows shortcuts can do.

Another Way to make 1 Key Shortcuts:

Lync HotKey Contact Dialer App on TechNet: Click Here(Note: One benefit of the Hotkey Contact Dialer is that you can have true 1 button to start a voice call)

Logitech has introduced a USB video conference unit that has a quite interesting design: A tilt/pan/zoom camera with a remote control combined with a conference speaker phone. The device is one of only 4 Microsoft Lync Optimized meeting room devices and is priced to be affordable for the smallest office.

I need to admit it is hard not to think “friendly robot” after you assemble this USB speakerphone with the 9” Cam extender stem. (Logitech does little to dispel this with there own video: http://youtu.be/PsX6tIHo8no)

Video First Impression Review

Looking at The Logitech BCC950 ConferenceCam

The BCC950 has a distinctive look by any standards. It can be powered by a USB cable plugged into a powered USB port on your laptop or pc or a power cord into the wall—both are included. The unit assembled quickly with no fuss. The unit’s base houses a 360 degrees speakerphone that has Call answer and hangup buttons, a mute and volume controls. There is also an LED that is blue with live conversation and red on mute. There are direction and zoom controls for that camera on the base as well as the remote that comes complete with batteries already installed (just pull the battery saver slip out) The base also includes a headset jack on the left side. I was surprised there was no volume indication on the device itself (but on Windows7 you can click on speakers icon in system tray to see volume level)

base with cam on stem

base with cam in base

side view of base with headset jack.

The camera is a 1080p Carl Zeiss camera with tilt/pan/zoom. The camera can be plugged directly into the base or on a 9 inch extender stem. I think the view with the stem is optimal when setting on a desk/conference table. When I first plugged the camera into the base I wasn’t quite sure I plugged it in right, but it was. The stem assembly feels like something you want to be a little careful with and not bang around too much. There is a blue LED in the beside the camera lens to let you know the camera is live. For me the whole unit, speakerphone and camera just worked in Microsoft Lync after plugging it in. Setup is a breeze.

Using the Positioning

The build in tilt/pan/zoom camera is probably the most unique part of this unit. After plugging in the device you can immediately start using the remote or controls on the base to position the camera. (There are no drivers or software required for Microsoft Lync---nice design Logitech) The camera moves quite fast and I had some trouble centering on my subject on the first try, likely a newbie issue. You do hear the mechanicals that move the camera through the speaker phone and, while the camera was on the “stem”, moving from side to side did cause it sway just a bit, but not very noticeable on the video for the other party.

playing with camera positioning

The unit is designed to be controlled by someone near the BCC950 and does note have far end control. (this is a limitation of Lync, not BCC950).

Video Quality

I’ve been getting questions about video quality so I’ll do my best to comment on what I see. (I want to preface this that I am no video expert) I have been comparing the video to Microsoft LifeCam Cinema HD in the Lync preview window to get raw video look and nothing else. (using default setup on both) The LifeCam immediately appears more vibrant with TrueColor feature turned on, but more comparable without it. I also noticed the BCC950 has more “fog/haze/halo” effect looking at the same view? It interesting that the LifeCam preview put my QuadCore HP Z210 CPU at approximately 10%, while the BCC950 preview drops to 5% or below. (the LifeCam has the TrueColor feature turned off. But perhaps LifeCam app/driver takes CPU?)

I’ve been doing some tests sending HD (720p) stream and it appears that the LifeCam take about an avg of 25% cpu to send the stream whereas the BCC950 takes an avg of 18% cpu. (very unofficial tests—if anyone has better way to test or more accurate results, let me know!)

Lync Mobile clients are not really designed for “desk phone” senario so UI may not fit

Perhaps the softphone “revolution” is too far progress for such a device to gain serious traction?

The BYOD wave just makes any enterprise grade device unacceptable?

Do we need a desk phone anymore?

Below is a video review of the unit by TheDroidGuy that got my attention.

As an alternative, perhaps an enterprise grade, Lync Optimized base station with handset (think of Cisco Cius docking station) that works as a USB handset when no iPad or Android tablet (or Windows 8 Tablet, to fend of life threats ;-) is in the docking station might have a shot at the future.

Above: Cius Docking (front)

BTW-Hey Cisco, maybe this is an idea to recoup some Cius R&D? Okay, sorry for that lame joke.

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About Me

Matthew M. Landis has various industry certifications: Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer, Microsoft Certified Database Administrator, Microsoft Office Certified Expert, Microsoft Certified Dynamics, Network+ and A+.
In 1995 Matt started Landis Computer which has been providing IT services to small businesses for 14 years and is now a 11 person Microsoft Gold Certified Partner. Matt has over 14 years of field experience implementing Windows Server, Microsoft & Dynamics ERP solutions in small business environments.
Matt is very active in the Windows based IP PBX community: He was a 3CX Valued Professional from 2008-2010 and has co-authored a book on Windows communication software "3CX IP PBX Tutorial". He is pbxnsip Certified, he has contributed thousands of posts to the 3CX community forum and he writes the monthly Windows PBX Report e-newsletter for VARS and administrators. His company, Landis Computer, was the first company in the USA to be designated a 3CX Premium Partner.
When not working and when a chance affords Matt likes to travel internationally with his wife Rosalyn and is very involved in his church.